General Martin Dempsey, the top US military officer, called the chief of staff of Egypt's armed forces on Monday, a US defense official told Reuters, without providing details on the conversation.

The call by Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came the same day Egypt's armed forces handed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi a virtual ultimatum to share power, giving feuding politicians 48 hours to compromise or have the army impose its own road map for the country. (Reuters)